S No. 2669 H No 6633 Republic ofthe Philippines Congress ofthe Philippines Metro Manila SEC. 2. Declaration of Principles and State Policies. - (a) The Philippines renounces war as an instrument of national policy, adopts the generally accepted principles of international law as part of the law of the land and adheres to a policy of peace, equality, justice, freedom, cooperation and amity with all nations; Fourteenth Congress Chird RegularSessian Begun and held in Metro Manila, on Monday, the twenty-seventh day of July, two thousandnine. (b) The State values the dignity of every human person and guarantees full respect for human rights, including the rights of indigenous cultural communities and other vulnerable groups, such as women and children; (c) It shall be the responsibility of the State and all other sectors concerned to resolve armed conflict in order to promote the goal of “Children as Zones of Peace”; (d) The State adopts the generally accepted principles of international law, including the Hague Conventions of 1907, the Geneva Conventions on the protection of victims of war and international humanitarian law, as part of the law of our { Reeusiic Act No. 98 5 L ! AN ACT DEFINING AND PENALIZING CRIMES AGAINST INTERNATIONAL HUMANITARIAN LAW, GENOCIDE AND OTHER CRIMES AGAINST HUMANITY, ORGANIZING JURISDICTION, DESIGNATING SPECIAL COURTS, AND FOR RELATED PURPOSES Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the Philippines in Congress assembled: CHAPTER I INTRODUCTORY PROVISIONS SECTION 1. Short Title. - This Act shall be known as the “Philippine Act on Crimes Against International Humanitarian Law, Genocide, and Other Crimes Against Humanity”. nation; {e) The most serious crimes of concern to the international community as a whole must not go unpunished and their effective prosecution must be ensured by taking measures at the national level, in order to put an end to impunity for the perpetrators of these crimes and thus contribute to the prevention of such crimes, it being the duty of every State to exercise its criminal jurisdiction over those responsible for international crimes; (f) The State shall guarantee persons suspected or accused of having committed grave crimes underinternational law all rights necessary to ensure that their trial will be fair and prompt in strict accordance with national and international law and standardsfor fair trial. It shall also protect victims, witnesses and their families, and provide appropriate redress to victims and their families, It shall ensure that the legal systems in place provide accessible and gender-sensitive avenues of redress for victims of armed conflict; and